Chapter 1 - THE KEY IN GRANT’S HAND
Maisie was crying behind the glass bedroom door when Evelyn reached the top of the stairs.
Water covered the bedroom floor in a shallow sheet from an overflowing bathroom sink.
Maisie was physically safe on the raised window bench, hugging her knees.
Grant stood outside.
Holding the key.
“Daddy… please open it!”
He looked straight at his three-year-old daughter.
“Maybe next time you’ll stop running to Grandma.”
Evelyn stopped breathing.
Then she moved.
She shoved Grant away from the door, ripped the key from his hand, and unlocked it.
Maisie immediately reached for her.
Evelyn lifted her granddaughter from the bench and carried her into the dry hallway.
Maisie wrapped both arms around Evelyn’s neck.
“You locked a three-year-old in there to punish her?!”
Grant rolled his eyes.
“It was a joke.”
Evelyn slapped him.
The sound cracked through the hallway.
Then Vanessa appeared from the staircase.
Grant’s wife looked terrified.
Not of Evelyn.
Of Grant.
“Tell your mother why you really wanted Maisie scared of her.”
Grant froze.
“Vanessa, shut up.”
Vanessa looked directly at Evelyn.
“He wasn’t trying to punish Maisie.”
Her voice shook.
“He was training her to stop asking for you.”
Maisie tightened her arms around Evelyn.
Grant stepped backward.
Then Vanessa said something stranger.
“And I kept proof of what happened to the last person she kept asking for.”
Grant went completely pale.
Evelyn stared at her son.
“What last person?”
Vanessa opened her mouth.
Grant interrupted.
“She’s lying.”
But Evelyn had heard that tone before.
Not from Grant.
May you like
From Maisie.
Every time the little girl had suddenly stopped mentioning someone she used to love.
